On May 23, 2023, Wood & Nathanson Senior Associate, Attorney Melissa Ramos received the Emerging Defender Award from the Committee for Public Counsel Services. The award honors defense attorneys “committed to indigent defense who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, excelled when facing challenging situations, and shown they are highly motivated to continuously learn and improve.” Recipients must “have demonstrated a commitment to the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence.” We have known these things to be true about Attorney Ramos since she joined us in 2019, but we are extremely pleased that colleagues within the profession agree with us. We confess to cheering a little more loudly than we were probably expected to during the ceremony.

Front row: Rachel Chunnha, Melissa Ramos, and Lauren Calderella, Back row: Caroline Alpert, David Nathanson, Matthew Malm, Eva Jellison, and Chauncey Wood.